UN express deep concerns over Pakistan’s decision to expel two million Afghan refugees one month’s time.
According to a statement, Pakistan’s cabinet on Tuesday decided to extend Afghan refugees’ stay only for 30 days.
The decision comes as surprise for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, which were expecting an extension for six months.
“We are concerned,” UNHCR spokesman Qaiser Afridi said on Friday.
The UNHCR is undertaking a repatriation programme for 1.4 million Afghans, most of them living in Pakistan since their country was invaded by Soviet Russia in 1979.
Pakistani officials said there are hundreds of thousands of other Afghans residing in the country off the official radar, taking the estimated number beyond two million
Kabul was worried and would raise the issue with Pakistani authorities, said Zardasht Shams, an Afghan diplomat based in Islamabad, in a statement posted online.
The decision is seen as a knee-jerk reaction to mounting international pressure on Pakistan to take action against Afghan militant groups allegedly operating from the country’s soil.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced overnight that it would suspend almost all security assistance to Pakistan unless it takes action against Afghan militants.
Pakistan has announced moves to expel Afghan refugees several times in the recent past, as a reaction either to pressure by the U.S. or spikes in violence, but these decisions were never followed through.(dpa/NAN)
